


Tea For Two (Interrupted By A Third)

by KuriKuri



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-18 23:12:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1446316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuriKuri/pseuds/KuriKuri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye finds a cat in her apartment. A cat which is most definitely <em>not</em> hers. It's just her luck that the kitten's owner happens to be really cute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea For Two (Interrupted By A Third)

**Author's Note:**

> Yay - first Skimmons fic! Ugh, I love them so much but I never write them... Also, I've only seen the first ten episodes of Agents of SHIELD so I'm sorry for any inaccuracies! (Oh, and please note that I don't actually own a cat and although I like cats, most of them don't like me for reasons unknown. So I'm sorry to cat lovers out there if I get anything wrong.)
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Breaking and entering? By a kitten? Also a minor altercation with someone's arm and kitten claws.

There is a cat in Skye’s apartment. A. Cat. In. Her. Apartment. Not that Skye actually has anything against cats, although she has always been more of a dog person. It’s actually kind of a cute cat – practically a kitten, actually – with its fuzzy orange and white fur and tiny paws. Skye’s problem with the kitten, though, is that it’s _in her apartment._ She was absolutely sure that she locked her door before leaving for work earlier that morning and, okay, maybe she’d accidentally left her balcony door open a little bit, but she lived on the twenty seventh floor! If this little fur ball was able to climb that far up the side of a skyscraper, then she had a bigger problem than she’d originally thought. 

Unless…

Skye slid the glass door open a little further and walked out onto her balcony, her bare feet padding across the concrete. She looked over to the balcony just to the left of hers, and, sure enough, the identical sliding door was ajar. On the balcony itself, a potted plant had been knocked over, dirt scattered across the ground, and Skye could just barely make out little paw prints on the light gray concrete. Also, the gap between the two balconies was barely a foot wide, and although the kitten was still fairly small, Skye had no doubt that it could jump that far. 

Skye sighed and walked back into her apartment, shutting the balcony door firmly this time. She paused for a moment when she didn’t immediately see the kitten sitting on her living room floor like it had been when she’d walked in earlier, but she soon realized that it had climbed up onto the couch in her absence and was now curled up comfortably on top of her (probably very warm) laptop, purring away like a motor scooter. 

The young woman sighed again before moving to carefully pick up the small animal, startling it from its nap. Thankfully it didn’t scratch her, settling for just a mewl of protest. Skye, unsure how exactly to hold the creature, cradled it awkwardly in her arms and took the way it rubbed its head against her stomach as a good sign. 

She started towards the door, shifting the kitten in her arms so that she had one hand free to snatch her keys off of the kitchen counter where she’d placed them earlier. Getting the door open was easier than she’d expected it to be, as was locking it, and soon enough she found herself in front of her new neighbor’s door, knocking and hoping to god that someone was actually home. 

“Oh, Fitz, thank _god_ you’re – ” a distinctly British voice started as the door swung open to reveal a slightly harried looking woman a little bit older than Skye, but probably not by much. “Oh. Um. Hello?” 

“Hey, so I think I found your cat,” Skye blurted out, staring at the other woman and trying not to think too hard about how goddamn _cute_ she was. 

Like, cuddle her forever sort of cute. Or pepper her with kisses until she turned adorably, blush-y red sort of cute. Just. You know. Cute.

“Oh my god, thank you!” the auburn haired woman exclaimed, accepting the kitten into her arms and hugging it to her chest, stroking its soft fur with one hand. “Thank you _so much_. I was so worried – I thought she’d fallen off the balcony!”

“Well, she’s fine,” Skye replied, laughing awkwardly and trying to figure out what to do with her now empty hands. “Fit as a fiddle.”

“Oh, where are my manners?” the cute girl said suddenly, blushing slightly. “I’m Jemma. Jemma Simmons. And this is Rosalind. If you wanted to know, which you probably didn’t – oh my god, I’m so bad at this – ”

“No, it’s fine – you’re fine,” Skye interrupted, smiling at the other woman’s antics. “I’m Skye. Nice to meet you, Jemma.”

“You too, Skye,” Jemma answered, smiling brilliantly. “Would you, um, would you like a cup of tea?”

“Sure,” Skye blurted, because seriously, who in their right mind would turn down someone as charming as Jemma Simmons?

Jemma opened the apartment door a little wider and stepped to one side in order to let Skye inside. Skye offered her a small smile and entered, her eyes darting around the apartment and taking in the half unpacked cardboard boxes still scattered about in between the few pieces of furniture. It still felt unfinished, but despite that, there was a certain warmth to it, the source of which Skye couldn’t quite pinpoint. 

“Sorry about the mess,” Jemma apologized, blushing slightly, her tone sheepish. “I haven’t exactly had much time to move in yet.”

“That’s totally okay,” Skye said, waving off the other woman’s concerns. “It’s exactly how my place looked last month.” 

“Oh? You’re new here, too?” Jemma questioned looking up at Skye from where she now stood at the kitchen counter, one of the cupboard doors ajar. 

“Kind of,” Skye replied, walking into the kitchen, too, and watching as Jemma placed her kitten on the countertop before going up on her tiptoes in order to reach two teacups and a teapot. “I mean, I’ve lived in New York for the past five years, but I moved into this building about a month ago.”

“Ah,” Jemma said, looking a little disappointed, but also a little excited. “Maybe you can show me around sometime, then. Only if you want to, of course. I mean, I just moved here from California, so. Yes. Well.”

“No, don’t worry. I could totally do that,” Skye answered, moving a little closer to Jemma. “It would be great. Although I have to say, from your accent I wasn’t expecting you to have come here from California.” 

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Jemma replied, although her tone didn’t sound annoyed. “I’m originally from Leeds, but I decided to go to Berkeley for my studies because they have such a _marvelous_ biochemistry department, and – oh, I’m probably boring you, aren’t I?”

“You’re not. Not at all,” Skye said, trying to recompose herself and not let on how she’d been admiring the other woman. “You should hear me go on about computers.”

Jemma blinked at her for a moment and then smiled again in a way that was highly, highly distracting. Skye decided that a better course of action would be to focus on the little orange kitten that was rubbing up against her arm from its perch on the counter instead. 

“What sort of tea would you like?” Jemma asked, changing the subject as she filled the kettle. “I have earl grey, darjeeling, raspberry, green tea with mint, chai, ginger peach… um, well, it might be better if you just looked through all of them on your own. I’m afraid that I like tea a little too much.”

“Surprise me,” Skye answered, and okay, maybe the smile that went along with that statement was a _little_ flirty, but it wasn’t like Skye was hoping for anything. Really. 

Jemma had already mentioned someone named “Fitz” who she’d clearly been expecting and who was most likely her boyfriend. Cute girls like Jemma were rarely queer – or at least the cute girls that Skye met were rarely queer – and developing crushes on straight girls really sucked. Like, _really_ , really sucked.

“One surprise coming right up,” Jemma replied, shooting Skye a smile of her own. 

Skye tried to suppress the feeling of warmth that arose in her chest. Fuck. 

\---

Falling for straight girls really, really sucked. Had she mentioned that? Because for some reason or another, Jemma had decided that she and Skye were now friends. Like, say “Hi!” to each other at every possible opportunity, have tea parties together every weekend, have long conversations about biochemistry (which were just a little one-sided), sort of friends. Which, you know, made it really hard to ignore the gentle simmer of attraction building in the back of Skye’s mind. 

“Hey, Skye!” a cheery voice called out, making Skye pause in the process of unlocking her apartment door. 

The young woman looked over to find Jemma walking down the hall towards her, her arms loaded with bags of groceries. This would not have been a particularly strange scene, if not for the unfamiliar man walking next to Jemma. Skye tried not to feel too jealous as the man’s shoulder brushed against her neighbor’s with a level of familiarity and comfort that she could only hope to achieve with Jemma. 

“Fitz, this is the girl I was telling you about,” Jemma said eagerly, smiling brilliantly at her companion, now identified as the mysterious ‘Fitz’ who Skye had occasionally heard her mention over the past two weeks. “Skye, this is Fitz. He’s my, well, I don’t – ”

“Lab partner. I’m her lab partner,” the man interrupted, receiving an annoyed look from Jemma and an elbow to the side which was probably meant to be subtle, but wasn’t really. “And her best friend! We’re best friends!”

“That’s… nice,” Skye replied after a moment, trying to force what was probably a less than convincing smile onto her face. 

“Here, let’s go in for a cuppa. I just bought some more spiced oolong,” Jemma invited, trying to shift her grocery bags so that she could get out her keys. 

“Let me take these,” Skye said, taking some of the bags from Jemma and trying not to think too hard about what it meant that the Jemma already knew her favorite flavor of tea and had actually gone out of the way to buy it.

“Oh. Thank you,” Jemma replied, and it almost looked like she was blushing slightly. “See Fitz, not _everyone_ has forgotten the definition of chivalry.” 

“Hey, I’m helping you, aren’t I?” Fitz protested and Skye sighed inwardly at being compared to Jemma’s best friend/boyfriend or whoever he was. “Just because I forgot to hold that _one_ door for you – ”

“It hit me in the face!” Jemma retorted, although she sounded only a little indignant and not seriously angry or annoyed. 

Skye had to physically resist the urge to quickly check to make sure that Jemma’s pretty face was still completely intact, although she certainly hadn’t noticed any bumps or bruises earlier, so this was probably an old argument, which, of course, spiraled Skye back into a jealous simmer as she tried not to wish too hard that she’d known Jemma long enough to have those sort of old, bickering quarrels. She entered into the apartment after Jemma, carefully putting the grocery bags she was carrying down on the kitchen counter. She glanced over at Jemma, who was already starting to heat up the kettle and tried not to feel too sappy about the utterly domestic sight.

Which was, of course, ruined by Fitz stumbling into the scene. 

However, before she could bemoan the loss of the moment, Rosalind the Cat (who actually was named after the famous x-ray crystallographer) intervened. As in, she attacked Fitz. With her claws. 

“Rosalind!” Jemma yelled, prying the kitten off of Fitz’s arm from where she hung after having jumped at him from her perch on the marble counter. 

“I thought you said you’d gotten yourself a cat, not a bloody _demon!_ ” Fitz exclaimed, clutching his slightly bleeding arm to his chest. 

“I don’t know what got into her,” Jemma said, her brow furrowed in concern as she examined the shallow scratches on the man’s arm. “She’s never like this. I mean, she escaped via the balcony once, but she likes people. Here, I’ll go get a plaster.” 

With that, Jemma left, probably to go fetch the cutesy Thor band-aids that she’d apparently found at Target and which kind of creeped Skye out. Skye and Fitz stood around awkwardly, silence descending on them as Skye tried to think of something friendly and not-lame to say. Which, you know, was kind of hard when you were holding a torch for the guy’s kind-of-maybe-girlfriend. 

“Oh, so that’s how it is?” Fitz said, his tone annoyed, startling Skye as she tried to figure out if she’d said that last bit out loud. 

However, just then she felt something soft rubbing up against her arm and looked down to find Rosalind the Cat perched up on the counter again and snuggling up to her side. Skye tried to keep a straight face as she reached out to stroke a hand through the kitten’s fur and it started purring in contentment. 

“Why does it like you and not me?” Fitz complained, glaring at the cat, and Skye tried not to be too smug about the whole thing. “I haven’t done anything to it!”

“Maybe Rosalind just doesn’t like men,” Skye answered, still petting the purring creature. “Which is completely understandable.” 

“Wait. Are you – ” Fitz said, squinting at her in consideration. 

Skye was _very_ thankful that Jemma chose that moment to reenter the kitchen with her box of Thor bandaids and a tube of disinfectant. There were many ways that Fitz might have ended that question and Skye really didn’t feel like answering any of them. Especially if he actually was Jemma’s boyfriend. 

She somehow managed to smile through the rest of the three-way tea party. The spiced oolong tea may have helped. 

\---

“Would you be willing to take care of Rosalind for a few days?” Jemma asked as she stirred the perfect amount of honey into her tea. 

“Uh, sorry?” Skye said, startling and blinking at Jemma.

She’d been zoning out while idly admiring her cute neighbor again. She’d also been stroking a certain cat who was curled up in her lap and was now vocally protesting the sudden lack of petting and cuddles. 

“I’m going to be at a conference in Boston on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” Jemma explained, pausing to take a sip of her tea as Skye fiddled with her own teacup. “I was wondering if you could look after Rosalind. If not, Fitz can probably take her, but, well, I’m not exactly sure either of them would like that.” 

“You’re probably right,” Skye replied with a slight laugh, eliciting a small smile from Jemma. “Don’t worry, though. I’m more than willing to spare him the pain, both physical and mental.” 

“Thank you,” Jemma said, still smiling that cute little smile which did all sorts of strange things to Skye’s heart rate. 

“Don’t sweat it,” Skye answered, returning Jemma’s smile. “I mean, how hard can taking care of a kitten for three days be?”

“You’d be surprised,” Jemma replied, her tone positively devious, and Skye felt a jolt of arousal at the thought of Jemma using that same tone in bed, her voice slightly rougher, a little breathy as she –

For the millionth time Skye thanked whatever deity existed that she wasn’t a guy and crossed her legs tightly.

\---  
Actually taking care of Rosalind was about as difficult as Skye excepted it to be. (Well, except for the litter box incident, but no one had to know about that.) There were a few other complications that Skye hadn’t anticipated, though. She’d become so accustomed to associating Rosalind with Jemma that she was constantly forgetting that Jemma was gone. It wasn’t even like Jemma was going to be away for an extended period of time – it was just that the little orange kitten was a constant reminder that Jemma wasn’t there. A constant reminder that they weren’t going to have tea, or chat about mundane topics in the hallway, or bicker about whether biochemistry or compsci was more interesting. 

It was really, really frustrating. More than once, Skye found herself face down on her bed, making frustrated noises into her pillow as she tried to figure out what she was going to do with all her extra time. Thankfully, Rosalind found plenty of ways to distract her. (See: the litter box incident.)

When Jemma came back Friday evening, Skye just about cried for joy. 

“I missed you,” Skye blurted out as soon as she laid eyes on Jemma upon opening her door. “I mean – I – _we_ missed you. Rosalind did.”

“I missed you, too,” Jemma replied, and Skye wasn’t entirely sure if she was addressing her or the kitten, although she thought she heard Jemma’s breath hitch slightly and she was quite certain that the other woman’s cheeks were slightly redder than they had been a moment before.

Jemma reached out for her cat and Skye handed Rosalind over, trying not to focus too much on the way their fingers brushed and lingered, touching each other for a little longer than was strictly necessary. 

“I hope she wasn’t any trouble,” Jemma said, inquiring lightly, peering at Skye with her big brown eyes again. 

“None at all,” Skye answered, awkwardly hugging her arms to her chest now that they were no longer occupied by a little orange and white cat. 

They stood there in uncomfortable silence for a moment, both sneaking glances at each other but unsure what exactly to say. 

“I suppose I should…” Jemma started, clutching Rosalind tightly and looking down somewhere in the vicinity of Skye’s shoes. “I mean – I should – I’ll just. I’ll see you tomorrow, yes?”

“It’s a date,” Skye replied, smiling slightly and trying to resist the urge to make Jemma stay, to keep her for longer because they’d been apart for the last three days. 

“It’s a date,” Jemma confirmed.

Not that it was actually. A date, that was. Or, well, not a _date_ date. Of course, Skye could still dream.

\---

Skye awoke to find a cat curled up next to her head on the kitchen table. Well, not just a random cat. Even in the dim night lighting, Skye was able to make out its soft orange and white fur. She rubbed her eyes, pulling out her phone and checking the time, blinking blearily at the glowing display as she processed the information. She let out a small groan and ran a hand through her sleep mussed hair, annoyed that she’d fallen asleep in front of her computer monitor for the third time that week. Unlocking her still glowing laptop screen, she examined the program that she had been in the middle of modifying, trying not to bang her head on the table as she noticed all of the exhaustion induced mistakes that peppered the later parts. She reluctantly saved the program, deciding to fix it later when she was more conscious. 

Then she looked over at the kitten which was now awake and blinking at her with wide, glowing eyes. She stared back for a moment, sleepily trying to figure out how it had gotten into her apartment. Skye glanced over at her balcony door which, yep, she had forgotten to close after getting engrossed in her work. It was hot enough that the stagnant air in her apartment was almost unbearable when she had to stay in for long periods of time, but paying for air conditioning was too much, especially considering the size of the electricity bill that all of her other tech racked up. Leaving the balcony door open was the easiest way to not die of heatstroke. 

Of course, she’d forgotten about the other consequences of having it open. Not that she was complaining. 

Skye reached over to scratch Rosalind behind the ears, smiling slightly as the kitten began purring and snuggling into her touch. She idly wondered what she should do about this particular situation. Considering how it was just past one in the morning, she couldn’t exactly return the little cat now, but at the same time she was pretty sure that if Jemma woke up sans adorable fluff-ball she might freak out a bit. So, should she wake up Jemma now to save her from a morning crisis or should she wait until morning and save Jemma some sleep but induce a panicked state? 

Thankfully Skye was saved from this dilemma by a timid knock on her apartment door. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should actually answer the door, because there was a distinct chance that it wasn’t actually Jemma. However, Skye stood up anyways, scooping Rosalind into her arms, and walked to the door, carefully looking through the peephole, relieved to find that it was actually Jemma Simmons standing nervously outside her door, looking more than a little upset. 

She opened the door. 

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Skye asked without preamble, holding up the tiny orange kitten, raising one tired eyebrow at Jemma who immediately accepted the cat, her eyes lighting up. 

“Yes! Oh god, I thought – she was just gone and I – ” Jemma exclaimed, looking at Skye with wide, grateful, dark eyes, the sort that made Skye feel like she had butterflies in her stomach and turned her legs to jello. “Thank you so much. I’m _so_ sorry for this – I don’t know what’s gotten into her! She just – ”

“It’s fine,” Skye said, dismissing Jemma and giving her a tired smile while trying not to focus too hard on how the other woman was barefoot and clad only in a pair of slightly too large pajamas, the shirt unbuttoned just enough so that Skye could see the tantalizing line of Jemma’s collarbone. “I hadn’t gone to bed yet anyway.”

Which, technically, was true.

“Thank you,” Jemma repeated, still clutching Rosalind to her chest like the kitten was the last thing binding her to reality. 

The two women stood there in Skye’s doorway for a moment, although there was a marked change in the atmosphere, the air about them charged with some sort of new tension. Jemma’s eyes broke contact with Skye’s and drifted down to linger on Skye’s lips. Skye couldn’t help but run her tongue over her lips, noticing the light dusting of pink which spread across Jemma’s cheeks. 

They were so close. They were _so close_. All Skye had to do was lean over and –

However, before Skye could initiate anything herself, she found Jemma’s soft lips on her own, barely a brush of skin on skin. It was tentative, caste. Skye stilled for a moment, surprised, and she felt Jemma stiffen next to her and start to pull back. Skye put a hand on Jemma’s waist and leaned into the kiss, trying her best to reassure the other woman nonverbally, pressing closer to Jemma and deepening the kiss, sweet but not without passion, reveling in the way Jemma shivered, the way she gasped, allowing Skye to slip her tongue inside –

Rosalind the Cat yowled. Skye and Jemma jerked apart, startled. It took a moment to realize what had happened, but Skye broke out into poorly contained giggles as she realized that the indignant kitten in Jemma’s arms had been getting awkwardly squished between them. Jemma blinked at her for a moment before looking down at the cat in her arms and starting to laugh, too. 

Skye dragged Jemma back into her apartment, closing the door behind them, wincing slightly at the loud sound of her door closing and hoping that she hadn’t woken up any of their other neighbors. Rosalind yowled again and squirmed in Jemma’s arms, eventually managing to jump down to the floor and disappear somewhere into the shadows of Skye’s living room. 

Skye found herself being pressed up against the hallway wall, Jemma’s mouth once again on her own. She moaned as Jemma slid a hand up under her shirt to trail her long fingers over the now exposed skin and she could feel Jemma smirk against her lips.

“I thought you and Fitz – ” Skye started as they paused for breath. 

“What?” Jemma asked, blinking at Skye. “Why would I call my boyfriend by his last name?”

“Wait, Fitz isn’t – ” Skye replied, but cut herself off as Jemma cupped one of her breasts, squeezing it lightly. 

“Not important,” Jemma said and pulled Skye into another kiss.

Skye retaliated by reaching a hand down to squeeze Jemma’s ass, enjoying the way Jemma clung to her and let out a surprised gasp. She parted Jemma’s lips roughly with her tongue, delving into the other woman’s mouth and taking control, warmth building in her as she felt Jemma tremble under her tongue, lips, fingers. 

“Bedroom,” Jemma gasped, looking up Skye with dark, dark eyes, her pupils wide with arousal. “We should t-take this to your bedroom.”

“Mmmhmm,” Skye replied, humming and drawing Jemma into another brief kiss before steering her in the right direction.

\---

“Do you want to get coffee? With me?” Skye asked the next morning, eyes unabashedly trailing over the softly sunlit expanse of Jemma’s skin, spread out over the sheets of her bed. “Or – you know – tea or something – ”

“Coffee!” Jemma answered, perhaps a little too forcefully and quickly. “Coffee sounds good.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m okay with – ” Skye started, frowning slightly. 

“I actually don’t like tea that much,” Jemma admitted, blushing brightly. “I mean, I like it, but not _that_ much and at the moment I don’t think I could drink another drop.” 

“Wait, but then why…?” Skye asked, blinking in confusion as Jemma turned even redder than she’d thought was possible. 

“I needed an excuse to see you,” Jemma confessed softly, blushing right up to her roots. 

“Coffee it is, then,” Skye laughed and leaned over for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> (I know I'm being annoying about promoting my tumblr, but if you have any prompts - Skimmons or otherwise - you can always send me one at authorkurikuri.tumblr.com!)
> 
> _I do not give permission to have any of my works put up on goodreads or any other such site._


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